X-Message-Number: 28152 From: "egg plant" <> Subject: Libertarian economics Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 17:45:04 +0000 Anthony ." <> >I see taxes as a social good OK, there is no disputing maters of taste. >I don't mind paying for the medical bills >of those who can't afford it Fine, if you want to pay somebody's medical bills then pay them, you don't need taxes for that. >and I'd happily meet a tax increase if >it funded cryonics You'd happily make people spend their own money in ways you like and happily forbid them from spending their own money in ways they like. In other words you'd happily steal their money. >I do mind funding wars and such Then why do you love taxes that force you to do so? >but the democractic process is about >ironing out problems. Like hell it is! >I pointed out that social pressures lead >the poor to spend money on status-items >to boost their social standing and sense of esteem. And I pointed out that lack of money is not the reason public schools suck, $13,330 per student per year seems about 10 times what they need, the schools suck because there is no competition and because good teachers and bad receive the same amount of money, and because it is almost imposable to fire a teacher. Last year only 12 of the 65,000 teacher's in New York city were fired, none of them because they couldn't teach but because they molested their students or stole money from the school administration. And a friendly word of advice, if you want to be known as a friend of the poor drop the paternalistic attitude you have toward them, they won't like it. >Should we then sell the schools to McDonalds and IKEA? Absolutely! If a corporation wants to buy a school they must think they can make a profit from it, they must think they can make a good school that people will want to send their children to. If they're wrong about that and people would rather send their kids to another school then the corporation will go broke, if they're right then they will make lots of money and the children will actually get educated and not just warehoused. >in Alberta [ ] the hospital beds are over-flowing Big surprise! What do you expect with socialized medicine? >the class-rooms are over-flowing What do you expect with socialized education? >Would you rather a criminal organisation >provide cryonics, or one that was legal? If cryonics were illegal I wouldn't have much choice. John K Clark Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=28152